MPT Series Maryland Farm & Harvest Visits Allegany, Garrett, Howard, and St. Mary’s Counties and Baltimore City During Nov. 19 Episode

Aaron Lantz (left) and Levi Lantz (right) of ALL Produce. photo credit: MPT’s Maryland Farm & Harvest

ANNAPOLIS, MD – Maryland Public Television’s (MPT) popular original series Maryland Farm & Harvest, now in its seventh season, will feature farms and locations in Allegany, Garrett, Howard, and St. Mary’s counties, along with Baltimore City during a new episode airing on Tuesday, November 19 at 7 p.m.

Maryland Farm & Harvest takes viewers on journeys across the state, telling stories about the farms, people, and technology required to sustain and grow Maryland’s number one commercial industry: agriculture. MPT’s production team filmed episode segments at more than four dozen farms in preparation for its seventh season. Segments featured on the November 19 episode are:

• Maryland Rockfish (St. Mary’s County): Catching rockfish requires work for months in advance, as viewers learn from St. Mary’s County fisherman and restaurant owner Tommy Courtney. Viewers follow the construction of Courtney’s pound net, which he uses to catch fish for Courtney’s Seafood Restaurant in Ridge, and then learn how the fish are caught. After, Maryland Farm & Harvest looks at the history of Maryland’s state fish, the rockfish, during the program’s Then and Now segment.
• F3 Tech Accelerator (Baltimore City): The audience is transported to Baltimore City for a look at Biotrophics, a startup growing mealworms and studying their viability as a primary protein source for animals. Biotrophics works with Instar Farm to mass-produce these worms. The two organizations collaborate with an Eastern Shore initiative called the F3 Tech Accelerator, a program that supports agriculture and aquaculture startups in Maryland.
• Rural Internet Access (Allegany and Garrett Counties): Most people take their internet service for granted, but a 2018 study reveals that 46% of Marylanders don’t have access to high-speed internet. Maryland Farm & Harvest first visits Walnut Ridge Farm in Flintstone and learns how an Allegany County farm uses the internet to market its products, despite the challenges of unreliable connections in the hills of Western Maryland. Then, viewers see how brothers Aaron and Levi Lantz use broadband internet to control and monitor their greenhouses at ALL Produce in Oakland.
• The Local Buy: Roving Radish (Howard County): Segment host Al Spoler visits The Roving Radish, a meal kit service run by the Howard County government. The kits provide all the ingredients to make delicious, healthy meals using local produce and protein. They are offered at a reduced cost for those in need. Next, Al visits Earth First Farm in Highland to find out what farmer Jared Gulliford is harvesting for The Roving Radish. Al Spoler helps pack meal kits before learning two recipes, including one for kale chips. Following the episode, the recipes will be available at mpt.org/farm.

Maryland Farm & Harvest airs on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. on MPT-HD and is rebroadcast on Thursdays at 11:30 p.m. and Sundays at 6 a.m. Each show also airs on MPT2 on Fridays at 7:30 p.m. Previous episodes of the series can be viewed for free on the MPT app and online at MPT’s website.

Viewers can join in on the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by using the hashtag #MDFarmHarvest.

The Maryland Department of Agriculture is MPT’s co-production partner for Maryland Farm & Harvest. Major funding is provided by the Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board.

Additional funding is provided by: Maryland’s Best; the Maryland Agricultural Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation; MidAtlantic Farm Credit; the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program; the Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation; the Rural Maryland Council; and the Maryland Soybean Board. Other support comes from: the Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts; Wegmans Food Markets; the Maryland Nursery, Landscape & Greenhouse Association; the Maryland Seafood Marketing Fund; the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service; the Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc.; the Maryland Farm Bureau; The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment; Mar-Del Watermelon Association; Eddie Mercer Agri-Services, Inc.; and Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission.

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Follow Maryland Department of Agriculture on Twitter @MdAgDept